Tag: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains contain sweeping panoramic views of ancient mountains, rushing streams, cascading waterfalls, and old growth hardwood forests. These are each wonderful sites to behold and represent just a hint of the photographic opportunities that await. Come join us as we explore this unique ecosystem with cameras in hand. I will be right there beside you to provide photographic recommendations and instruction.

Monday night, October 21st, we will all meet at the Trailhead Steakhouse restaurant in Townsend, TN for an orientation and to go over the itinerary for the following three days as well as get a sense of what each of you is looking for out of the workshop. The October 21st welcome dinner is on me.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be filled, sunrise to sunset, with photographic opportunities as we explore the Foothills Parkway, Cades Cove, Greenbrier, Clingman’s Dome and more. Each day there will be an opportunity to look at what you have captured and receive post processing instruction. Finally, after photographing sunrise in the Foothills Parkway we will meet for a recap and a final breakfast as everyone leaves on their own. This meal will be on me as well.

Workshop Includes:

Photographic instruction

Dinner at the Trailhead Steakhouse restaurant the first night and breakfast on the final day.

What’s not included:

Transportation: Transportation to and from the airport and during the workshop is not provided. Please keep this in mind when making travel arrangements.

Lodging: The group will be staying at the Townsend Gateway Inn in Townsend, TN. There will be a block of rooms set aside for the Nature Photography Show.

Food: Other than the initial dinner and the final breakfast food is not included.

The Great Smoky Mountains are among the oldest mountain ranges in the world and also one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. And spring is absolutely the best time of year to be in the Smokies. You’ll experience the wildflower bloom and explore endless compositions among the beautiful streams and waterfalls. We’ll also head up to the high elevations to photograph classic views of the stacked ridges that give the Smokies their name. Our focus will be on the some of the most photogenic regions in the park and will include Greenbriar, Tremont and the Newfound Gap/Clingman’s Dome high country. As always, we’ll keep a flexible itinerary to create some exciting photographic opportunities for you.

Encourage a High School Student to Dig Deeper Into Photography This Summer

It is always exciting to hear about the experiences of each class of the NANPA High School ScholarshipProgram. The 2018 program will take place in Tremont, Tennessee July 2-7 and the deadline to apply to participate is Friday, March 30.

Greetings! I am the new NANPA Blog Coordinator, and have been meaning to write an introductory post since I started in this position several months ago. I worked with Rebecca Spriggs for several months, and she did a great job of training me in the general mechanics and finer points of WordPress, the platform for our blog. We were all sorry to see Rebecca leave NANPA for another position, but certainly wish her well in her new work.

I live in Atlanta, and completed a career in health care information technology in 2012. I’ve been a nature and wildlife photographer for a little over a decade, and started a business with my brother in 2011 called NatureBook Photography. While I’ve been photographing nature for a while, I also began writing about nature nearly two years ago.

Story and photography by Tom Haxby

It was my dream come true to have been the Artist in Residence as a photographer in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for six weeks from September through November of 2016. I have been to the park many times and I would never have imagined having this opportunity. My background as a natural resource manager for 26 years along with my passion for photography helped to secure the chance to take photographs for an entire season in one of the most picturesque national parks. For me, it was about more than just taking photos. I wanted to take the time to gain a greater understanding of the park.

Now that our long languorous summer is beginning to wane, particularly in the northern states, it is time to start thinking about fall photography. Let’s try something a little different.

Cuyahoga Valley, wedged between the urban areas of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, is not your typical national park. Carved out of multiple semi-urban areas, several great tracts of land are now protected within the boundary of this relatively compact 33,000 acre park. Just two of the many highlights included here are wonderfully restored stretches of the historic Ohio & Erie Canal and the Cuyahoga River, once so badly polluted by chemical waste that it regularly caught fire.

Having been cobbled together from several disparate elements, when this park was established in 2000 it was part of an effort to bring the national park experience to more people. Located within a day’s drive of perhaps 40% of the American population, Cuyahoga Valley offers a wide variety of fun and great photography. This is particularly true around early-mid October when the woods are ablaze with brilliant autumn color. Continue reading →

While summer is still with us, it’s not too early to start thinking about good spots for fall photography, particularly if you happen to live in a northerly latitude. Luckily, one of the best in America is within a day’s drive of more than one-third of the nation’s population: Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Popularly called “The Smokies,” this big park is split equally between Tennessee and North Carolina. Three gateway towns provide access: Cherokee, North Carolina, in the south; the combined area of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on the northern edge; and the small, quiet village of Townsend, Tennessee, bordering the northwest corner of the Smokies. All offer a wide variety of lodgings and restaurants to suit every budget and taste with Gatlinburg being a bustling tourist mecca. Continue reading →